We Steal Secrets

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Where:

Synopsis

Filmworks presents the American independent documentary that Newsday calls “engaging, kinetic, revelatory, and unexpected.” From Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney, who directed Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Taxi to the Dark Side, among others, the movie details the creation of Julian Assange’s controversial website, WikiLeaks, which in 2010 facilitated the largest security breach in U.S. history. WikiLeaks used the power of the Internet to usher in what was for some a new era of transparency, and for others the beginning of a new information war. Hailed by some as a free-speech hero and by others as a traitor and terrorist, Assange’s rise and fall is paralleled with that of Bradley Manning, the young soldier who downloaded hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. military documents to reveal the government’s covert strategies. The film unfolds like a thriller, exploring how this trove of classified data was leaked, and showing how one small group of digital activists have re-focused the future of free expression.

Director: Alex Gibney
USA (2013) • 130 minutes • Rated R

Screening sponsors:ACLU – Greater Fresno Chapter
The mission of the Greater Fresno Area Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California is to defend, maintain, and extend the civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and by the Constitution of the state of California.

WILPF – Fresno Branch
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom has been working since 1915 to unite women worldwide who oppose oppression and exploitation. WILPF stands for equality of all people in a world free of racism, sexism, and homophobia; the building of a constructive peace through world disarmament; and the changing of government priorities to meet human needs.

Community Alliance Newspaper
The Community Alliance Newspaper is an independent voice for workers and progressive groups in the central San Joaquin Valley. The monthly newspaper’s goal is to build a powerful progressive movement that will support social, environmental, and economic justice; immigrant rights; and a living wage for all working people. We seek to expose social and political injustices and to link the diverse network of activists working in our community.

Reviews

"Gibney, the Oscar-winning director of Taxi to the Dark Side and documentaries about Enron and Eliot Spitzer, lines up an A-list of experts, observers, cohorts, and adversaries, tracing how Assange's and Manning's worlds collide - virtually, and violently - and how a noble quest for transparency and truth turned into a tale of conspiracy and paranoia."
— Steven Rea,
The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Even as he weighs the impact of implementing that philosophy, Gibney tests his own ethics as a truth-seeking filmmaker. He too targets wielders of corporate, military and political power. Who is 'We' in the title 'We Steal Secrets'? There’s no need for a spoiler alert, but it’s neither Gibney nor Assange."
— Bill Stamets,
Chicago Sun-Times

"I’ve obsessively followed the WikiLeaks story from the first time I encountered it, and yet my jaw dropped on multiple occasions: there are amazing revelations in this film’s fast-paced hundred and thirty minutes. What these people have done remains one of the most fascinating ethical dilemmas of the twenty-first century, and this movie is easily the best yet to examine it."
— C.J. Johnson,
Film Mafia

"Gibney, the Oscar-winning director of Taxi to the Dark Side and documentaries about Enron and Eliot Spitzer, lines up an A-list of experts, observers, cohorts, and adversaries, tracing how Assange's and Manning's worlds collide - virtually, and violently - and how a noble quest for transparency and truth turned into a tale of conspiracy and paranoia."
— Steven Rea,
The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Even as he weighs the impact of implementing that philosophy, Gibney tests his own ethics as a truth-seeking filmmaker. He too targets wielders of corporate, military and political power. Who is 'We' in the title 'We Steal Secrets'? There’s no need for a spoiler alert, but it’s neither Gibney nor Assange."
— Bill Stamets,
Chicago Sun-Times

"I’ve obsessively followed the WikiLeaks story from the first time I encountered it, and yet my jaw dropped on multiple occasions: there are amazing revelations in this film’s fast-paced hundred and thirty minutes. What these people have done remains one of the most fascinating ethical dilemmas of the twenty-first century, and this movie is easily the best yet to examine it."
— C.J. Johnson,
Film Mafia